What Type of Thinking are You Using To Make Decisions?
Is there a different way?
Before I start I need to come clean. I was trained as an engineer.
Engineers tend to think very logically. Very few are outside the box type of people. They like the inside of the box. Hell they made the damn box.
LOL
An engineer likes to have data in order to make a decision. Once the data has been obtained we like to plot them:
To understand it we would fit a curve to that data. Let us assume that the curve is a line.
This is a very good approximation of the behavior that system. The engineer is happy. They were able to develop a model that fits the data.
Unfortunately life is messy. It is an emerging reality. It is unpredictable and it is impossible to fit the data with any curve. Maybe in the short terms we can approximate it but in the long run we will fail to predict it.
Weather is a great example of this. Weather people are great at predicting the weather within the next few hours to a day. BUT outside of that window…forget about it!!!
Is there another way?
(Note: most of the ideas below are from a Hello Monday podcast with Bill Burnett and Dave Evans)
An alternate way to make decisions is to adopt the thinking of a designer. A designer accepts the current state. This is the default setting.
Next they would follow the improv technique of adding to what is understood. A designer would get curious. Why is the current state the way it is? What could be added? What could be subtracted? How can the problem be reframed?
A designer will next talk with others. They would ask if other people have a different reality and understanding. At this point the designer would look to collaborate.
During the collaboration, they would create new inventions. Naturally they would test these and try to see if they match reality.
Lastly, the designer would talk about the story behind the problem and collaboration efforts.
It is just another way. Notice that I did not use any data or lines. It was a bit more touchy feely. More collaborative. This is because you often are solving a problem that you might not even register now.
BUT when the problem arises, you are ready with a solution.
I am torn between these two ways of thinking . I can see the engineer view as being more concrete. The designer view as more inventive and ad hoc.
Maybe a combination of these two would help you solve and invent more efficiently.
My seven cents….(this is what I earned from Medium.com for Nov. 2020)
I got to go…my future self alarm went off
Robert Trajkovski is professional with experience in leading people and projects in Steel/ Power, Refining, Chemicals, Industrial Gasses, Software, Consulting and Academia. He has worked for both owners and engineering companies. In addition, he has instructed 73+ courses at several institutions and often offers his courses for free on LinkedIn.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/roberttrajkovski/
If you enjoyed this article, I strongly urge you to follow the link to my course below and sign up. It is being created and a beta group is being formed.
THE ULTIMATE Time AND Energy Management course is at: https://robert-s-school-b48a.thinkific.com/courses/time-and-energy-management
WRITTEN BY
